While the clearing around them was filled with light from the sun, the canopy of trees considerably darkened the forest surrounding them. As soon as Ezra, Claire, and Rodney finally got their bearings Ilyana addressed the situation.
“From now on we have to take things seriously. One thing you guys should know, is that in every adventurer party people are assigned roles based on their abilities. Now that we’re in the actual dungeon, I’ll be officially assigning your roles.”
“Like on the first floor Claire, you’re the tank of the party. Your main priority is attracting the monsters’ attention, also known as generating aggro, so they don’t bother attacking the rest of the party.” She then turned to Ezra before speaking.
“Ezra I get that you wanted to be a fighter, however the nature of your class will always put you at a disadvantage in raw physical stats. No matter how much training you do, you won’t be able to close that gap.”
“How do you know that? I’m close to ranking up so I might get a boost in strength.”
“The stats gained from your choosing your class are known as primary stats, since they’re the only ones that’ll increase from rank ups.”
“Damnit!” Of course Ezra already predicted that result, but he just didn’t want to believe in that eventuality.
“Anyways the skill you chose is overpowered, and we need every advantage we can get out here. So you’ll be our damage dealer, since I doubt anything can withstand [Soul Bolt] in the first layer.” An expression of reluctance appeared on Ezra’s face only to vanish without a trace, something Claire intended to probe him about later.
As Ilyana finally turned to Rodney, the man squirmed under her gaze like a prey being eyed by a predator.
“Rodney, just know I say this with no disrespect intended. With no experience fighting and being malnourished, you’re more of a detriment than benefit to our team. I think it goes without saying but stay behind us and keep out of trouble or you’ll endanger the rest of us.”
“As for us, Saber will be scouting ahead of us for any danger and will notify us through his skill [Conveyed Whisper]. Besides serving as our scout he’s also our secondary damage dealer, and will be assisting Claire deal with the monsters she’s attracting.”
“My role is basically the same as Saber’s, however I use a ranged weapon. Also because of this cramped environment, I may have to refrain from using my bow unless we find a more spacious environment.”
“Finally Sonja is our main support using [Minor Restore] on whoever needs it the most, which will mainly be Claire or Saber. Any questions so far?”
“Yeah I’ve been wondering this for a while, but what are your skills and stats?” said Ezra.
“We’ll be wasting daylight if we keep standing around here talking, but after we’re finished with today’s run we’ll talk about our abilities. For now though let’s get started.” Ilyana took out the bronze compass and waited a moment until it pointed north.
After organizing themselves into formation and readying their equipment the party started their exploration. Saber went ahead and gave them the all clear with his skill, which felt as if he was right behind them while he spoke, and as their vanguard Claire took her first steps inside the forest.
“That portal just collapsed on itself how do we get back to the surface?” Walking next to Sonja at the back of their formation, Rodney made sure to keep an eye behind himself out of paranoia.
“We have to explore the floor until we either find the dungeon portal, the ones we use to enter the dungeon and go to the next floor, or a waypoint portal which allows us to return back home.”
After listening to Ilyana’s explanation, Rodney released a relieved sigh as they continued moving through the forest.
The slight rustle of leaves, chirping of insects, and other natural noises repeatedly caused Claire to hurriedly turn with a wild look in her eyes as she wielded her sword. After a while of this tomfoolery, Ilyana, Sonja, and Ezra finally couldn’t help themselves from laughing despite walking in a potentially dangerous forest.
“What’s so funny? Were you guys pranking me earlier about the spiders?!” Claire’s face reddened as she stomped her foot on the ground, insistent on not taking another step forward. As their only vanguard, Ilyana motioned for Claire to calm down yet she ignored her pleas.
“We don’t really know if there are spiders in this forest. It was just a comment that escalated into a joke by Ezra. Please don’t be too mad at us…” It took Sonja flopping her rabbit ears cutely as she explained the situation for Claire to temporarily put aside her grievances.
Distancing herself from her annoying teammates, Claire observed the surrounding forest. The trees surrounding them were eye-catching with their abnormal height and features. The branches from spread out trees managed to crisscross and connect in odd angles blanketing sections of the forest in darkness.
Thankfully they weren’t heading into those sections, as Claire was kept a watchful eye on their surroundings. The grip on her sword tightened not from suspended horror, but from Ezra and Sonja audibly gossiping about her behind her back.
“Is she really afraid of spiders?”
“Well it all started when she was around 10...”
After passing through some more trees, the group came upon a large clearing split by a raging river. There were a few deer taking sips of the fresh water from the other side, who after determining their party wasn’t a threat resumed their activities.
As they walked down the hill Rodney’s stomach rumbled which led to Ilyana declaring the party would take a break here.
“This would be a good place to fill our water skins and take a break.” A few moments after she said this, Saber appeared giving an all clear and everyone grabbed their own water skins and rations. The only one without a water skin and some food was Rodney, who ended up borrowing from Saber.
“Luckily we went shopping for all of those supplies yesterday, or we would’ve embarrassed ourselves even more…” Claire offhandedly thought.
The river seemed deep enough to nearly drown someone short like Sonja, and was full of gravel and small fish swimming away downstream. Despite the fact they’ve been travelling in the forest for an hour, the sun floated idly in the sky as if it had no intention of coming down.
As the deer finally left the clearing, suspicion of the forest found its way in Claire’s heart. They were in one of the only rivers going through the forest, yet there were no signs of any other animals as far as Claire could see up or downstream.
The whole time the clearing has been oddly quiet as the ambient noises magically disappeared, creating a sense of dread that crept upon Claire’s skin as she viewed the area with a renewed sense of wariness.
As if confirming Claire’s suspicions, Sonja’s ears started twitching while she viewed her surroundings with caution. The small talk between everyone quickly died down as Ilyana repeated the same motion with bow at the ready.
“Guys, I think I hear something. There’s lots of movement beyond the tree line we just came from…” spoke Sonja as everyone got into formation.
“Fall back towards the river!”
While everyone followed Ilyana’s instructions, a series of grunts and pants signified the arrival of the enemy. A horde of goblins emerged from the tree line looking down upon them like snacks. From a mere glance, Claire could tell these goblins were of a different breed than their predecessors on the first floor.
Their skin was a dark shade of green while white tribal tattoos were drawn haphazardly all over their bodies. Where the previous goblins had child-like bodies and features, these new ones were slightly bigger, leaner, and meaner as evidenced by their growls.
Claire almost gagged at the disgusting sight of the creatures’ spines visibly pressed against their hunched backs, forcing the monsters to skulk about on all four legs. While the goblins hung out near the trees, their party was nearing the edge of the river until a smaller group of goblins arrived.
Although they looked similar to their hunchbacked brethren, these five goblins stood upright and had red tribal paint on their faces. They even wielded stone tools as they walked around their subordinates with a commanding aura.
“Guok sluk bong shiii!”
After yelling some orders out in their tongue, the hunchbacked goblins ran in an odd shuffle towards them. Forming a circle around Sonja and Rodney, the party was clearly at a disadvantage in terms of terrain and numbers.
35 to 6 were terrible odds in the first place, let alone the fact only 4 of the 6 could fight in close combat. With the situation visibly worsening at a rapid pace, Ilyana quickly barked out orders.
“We’ll try to lose them across the river, just focus on running while Claire, Ezra, and I cover your backs!”
Before he could even get into the river, Rodney tripped over an overgrown root and landed face first on the ground. All of the group’s loot spilled across the ground, and as he struggled to get up a large gash oozed blood that mixed with his dirt stained visage. As Saber ran back to grab his arm and yank the older man up, Rodney happened to take a glance at the horde of green behind them.
Their mouths opened revealing their yellowed and cracked teeth, while unnaturally long tongues were dragged through the air behind them as if they were a dog. Their treats were right in front of them, all they had to do was run over and take one bite…
“D-d-DoOooOOon’T eAt me, I’M NOT READY TO DIE!!”
Finding motivation at the threat of impending death, Rodney let loose a roar as he jumped to this feet and sprinted towards the river. Running through water was already difficult enough, let alone walking through an active river. By the time Saber and Rodney were halfway through the river, five of the goblins neared Claire who stayed on the platform to give everyone else ample time to cross the river.
One crumpled mid-stride like a marionette cut from its strings after a purple blur slammed into it, while an arrow found its way in the forehead of another leaving three for Claire to deal with. Stepping forward and activating [Power Strike], Claire let loose an overhead slash that bisected an overeager goblin.
You have killed a Feral Goblin.
Taking advantage of her posture, one of the goblins approaching from her side leapt at her nape but was harshly met with a buckler to the face. Although Claire wanted to go in for the kill, her goal was to escape after all. Once the last goblin crumpled in mid-stride, Claire dashed for the river and used her momentum to perform a long jump to cross around 1/4th of the river.
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Coming up to Claire’s upper abdomen, the active water struggled to sweep her off her feet. A glance behind showed some of the goblins attempting to enter the river and give chase. Instead they were all met with the harsh reality of their deformed stature working against them. Their heads bobbed in the water as they attempted to run through the water, only to be swept by the currents downstream.
As she finally stepped on the dry land where her safety was guaranteed, the surge of adrenaline powering her body disappeared leaving Claire sprawled on the ground while she caught her breath.
As the goblins loitered on the other side waiting for their leaders’ instructions, Ezra and Ilyana gave each other a look before walking forward. The situation was any ranged combatant’s ideal scenario with the goblins standing around like easy experience, so Ezra and Ilyana both launched their ranged attacks at them. Showing obvious skill with her bow and arrows, Ilyana managed to kill three of the five leaders while Ezra finished off the final two.
With their leaders promptly eliminated, the feral goblins ran back into the woods, although this didn’t stop Ezra from launching [Soul Bolt] on some of the slower ones. After arriving at the safety of the tree lines, a few of them snarled at the humans before retreating into the green of the forest.
After they all finally disappeared, Ezra nearly collapsed onto the ground causing Sonja and Claire to frantically worry. Not even [Minor Restore] seemed to have an effect on his odd condition, but since there was no time to wait for Ezra to recuperate in such a vulnerable location, Ilyana whipped out the compass and the group followed its magic needle.
Although Ezra’s status raised questions among everyone, with two injured party members their overall strength was reduced too much to afford any distractions. Besides Claire had her own problems to deal with, her expression worsening by the minute as she viewed her ruined buckler.
“It’s about time I got an actual shield anyways, and Ezra can’t complain either since he received an upgrade recently…”
Taking a glance at her brother, Ezra seemed worse off compared to everyone else. His body was so stiff that he had to rely on Rodney’s help to move around. Despite the odd condition of his body, Ezra acted completely fine and brushed off everyone’s concern.
In her opinion though, [Soul Bolt] seemed too good of a skill to be without any drawbacks and maybe that’s what Ezra was currently experiencing. Either way when they were alone, Claire planned on having a word with him.
The natural ambiance of the forest eventually returned, and Claire watched her surroundings for any incoming threats. After around 10 minutes of strained observation of everything in their surroundings, she released a repressed sigh before a notification interrupted her thought process.
New Skill Learned!
Observe Obtain the basic description of a person or object you’re viewing. Increased ranks allows more information to be displayed. Level I Rank I
Smiling at her newfound success, Claire immediately put her new skill to use on her teammates…
A human.
A human.
A human.
A rabbit beastfolk.
An elf.
Although she was originally disappointed by the lack of information, there didn’t seem to be any associated cost which meant Claire could spam the skill on everything she saw.
Following that train of thought, Claire used the skill on the surrounding trees and plant life, only to receive repeated messages of “A tree.” or “A plant.” Eventually she gained a skill rank in [Observe] which slightly increased the information provided.
Instead of the bare minimum it provided earlier, [Observe] now showed “Your brother, Ezra.” or “Your party leader, Ilyana.”
Since it seemed like the group finally escaped danger, Claire asked Sonja about [Observe].
“I just learned [Observe], but I’m practically getting no information when I use it. Basically I was wondering when will I would be able to see others’ classes?”
“There are some requirements to see someone’s class, but you need to learn [Analyze] before you worry about getting the skill to see classes. Although observation skills are typically the easiest to rank or level up, it’ll still take you a month or so to learn [Identify].” Rodney perked up during Sonja’s explanation and while he was helping Ezra walk, Rodney would attempt to observe his surroundings too.
“That’s not fair how come you got [Observe] before me?!” Ezra managed to complain despite his odd condition.
“You of all people shouldn’t be complaining about fairness, like Ilyana said your skill is overpowered!” retorted Claire.
A cough from Ilyana interrupted the sibling’s argument before it could progress any further.
“If you’re going to talk, make sure you aren’t interrupting a friend when they’re explaining something important.” Ilyana chastised the two before she returned to keeping an eye on her surroundings and the compass.
“Of course it would take a whole month…What were those goblins earlier? I don’t know how but they managed to be more disgusting than the ones on the first floor.” Sighing with regret, Claire thoughts lingered back to the goblins they faced earlier. If this was an actual world, who knew how many of those things they’d end up fighting…
“The system says they're a more animalistic version of normal goblins.” Ilyana spoke up this time.
“You guys have been to the 2nd floor before right? Do you know where we are exactly?”
“The Continental Dungeon doesn’t work like that. If you don’t return to a dungeon floor after a month or you decide to go to a different floor, whatever progress you made on that floor will vanish and you’ll arrive in a different world if you try to return to that floor.”
After receiving another lesson about the inner workings of the dungeon, the small talk amongst the party continued. 30 uneventful minutes of traveling through the forest passed until there was finally a change in scenery. The amount of trees gradually decreased, transitioning the group from the dangerous forest to a large plains.
The setting sun dyed the sky orange, while clouds lazily drifted at a snail’s pace through the sky. In the distance, a small settlement stood out amongst the natural landscape.
“Is that where the portal to the next floor is located?” Ezra asked.
“Possibly, we’ll just have to find out by heading down there.” Saber shrugged while giving a casual reply.
Gathering everyone’s attention, Ilyana informed them of their game plan.
“Before we even think about entering, we have to confirm it’s not a hostile town full of goblins or some other monster. Since Saber’s [Stealth] won’t work in such an open environment, we’ll approach the area at a distance. By then we’ll be able to tell if we can go back home or rest there for the night.”
Taking a glance at the forest while they were walking away, Claire was shocked by the grand sight. This wasn’t a view you could easily see in the normal world, as large trees seemed to endlessly line her horizon. Could the land in the Elven Republic rival the scenery found in this land?
The only downside of this floor she could currently think of, were the hostile monsters that lurked about, especially the goblins. Thinking about them brought a visible shiver to Claire’s body.
Although nowadays goblins were reduced to mere bedtime stories, the potential damage those sex fiends are capable of is no laughing matter. Capable of rapid reproduction and mutating, especially if given a capable host, goblins can muster a force no less than an army given ample time to grow.
Thankfully the beautiful scenery and adorable creatures near them cleared the vile monsters from Claire’s conscious.
Big brown bison grazed the grassy terrain, while furry creatures such as bunnies and ferrets used the animals as cover. Unaffected by the dungeon’s mana, the harmless animals frolicked about with no purpose.
In the distance a village was visible, spiked wooden posts surrounded the area serving as a deterrent to any hostile wildlife. Tents were scattered about near the entrance, people intermingling with each other or entering the village.
As they all approached the area, a system message appeared in their view.
You have discovered the abandoned settlement, Pirn!
+5% Static Experience!
“We get experience just for exploring?”
“Yeah but exploring a floor just for experience is difficult, since we don’t have a reliable method of transportation right now.” Ilyana replied.
“Woah that’s crazy I just ranked up! Looks like I’ll always be one step ahead of you after all Claire.” She was only 30% away from ranking up, and Claire felt slight jealously at Ezra's fast progress. It took all of her willpower not to smack Ezra’s cocky grin off his face while he was distracted from notifications.
It would be bad enough being known as the crazy one from her friends, let alone random adventurers nearby. Besides Claire wanted to at least know what Ezra gained from ranking up before hitting him.
Eyes continuously fell on their group, especially due to Ezra’s words of ranking up. Overall everyone’s equipment around them wasn’t up to par, ranging from plain clothes and leather armor to wielding the most basic of copper and iron weapons.
While the majority of people minded their own business after taking a glance, a few seemed to eye their party, or rather their belongings, intensely before realizing how morbid their thoughts were truly turning.
Claire made sure to [Observe] all of them and was met with the most useless piece of information yet.
A human, ???
A human, ???
Before she could think about the message further, an outlier amongst the rest of the plain individuals started walking in their direction.
A lone man, rather attractive with fair blonde hair and blue eyes, walked with a confidence unseen amongst the majority of the people here. He was one of the better equipped people here, a full set of leather armor with an iron axe and an actual wooden shield unlike Claire’s dinged buckler.
A human, ???
Once again [Observe] gave Claire little to no useful information, but at this point it became apparent the skill relied on the knowledge of the user to display info.
“Pardon the intrusion guys, but we adventurers should stick together. May I ask who the leader of your party is?”
Ilyana came forward with hand outstretched for a handshake.
“That would be me, Ilyana. A pleasure to meet you.”
“Tristan Morris. You guys seem like you know what you’re doing, and I already have a group of five people but if we comb-”
“Sorry Tristan, but we’ll have to decline your proposal. Too many people in our group would slow us down, and we aren’t planning on heading any deeper for now. It was a pleasure meeting you though.”
Ilyana led the party further into town, leaving Tristan with his mouth open at the shock of being denied without a chance to finish his pitch. There were no guards, vendors, nor children running about filling the area with their laughter. Like the earlier notification said, the place was definitely abandoned for whatever reason and now only adventurers loitered the area.
The only thing of note throughout the whole town was the glowing white portal at the center of the town. Rocks were laid ceremoniously around the portal, forming a multi-layered circle.
Ilyana had already informed the party that these waypoint portals, would anchor their location on the floor until the dungeon kicked you out after a month of inactivity. They could return to the floor whenever they wanted as long as they visited the waypoint occasionally.
“We’re going to take a break at this village for now. Get any supplies you may need tomorrow…” She eyed Rodney for a moment before continuing.
“Then we’ll head back to the forest and train on our teamwork, and get your ranks to a suitable level. We’ll do this for about a week or until our cohesive ability improves then we’ll go to the next floor.” Ilyana was directly speaking to Ezra, Rodney, and Claire at this point.
“B-back in the forest with that horde?! That’s a death trap who knows how many of those things are in there!” Rodney protested.
“This is exactly why we’re training. An adventurer lifestyle means dealing with life threatening situations on a daily basis. You’re our porter which means you’re going to be in those situations with us, and you can’t be tripping over rocks willy-nilly or else you’ll die!” Saber berated the man.
If he didn’t learn how to fight and properly handle himself in those situations, he could easily lose his own life.
Rodney clenched his fist his anger at his own uselessness. At the ripe age of 42, he was being taught a lesson by a kid not even half his age. He was completely right though, today he made a total fool of himself in front of these children. He nearly pissed himself when confronted with danger, and even lost a day’s worth of loot yet they still didn’t kick him out.
Once again Sonja appeared during his self-loathing and stood on her tippy toes to pat his shoulders.
“It’ll be okay, everyone makes mistakes.” Rodney replied with a half-smile with zero effort.
“Save the melodrama and retrospection for when we eat please.” In an effort to lighten the somber mood, Ilyana tried to make a self-aware joke.
“Are we going back to the same place we went last time?” asked Ezra.
“Of course we get a discount because we know the owner.” Saber replied.
They all stepped through the white portal and received the same notification.
You have successfully left the 2nd floor of the Continental Dungeon.
So concluded the party’s first adventure on the 2nd floor.